the duchess will see you now

I Found My Thrill…

I’ve been going to Flagstaff Hill most of my life. When we were kids we’d go on summer nights, covered in city dirt after running and playing all day long, and watch the free movies projected on the outdoor screen. Troops of people carrying blankets and children, pulling dogs along on leashes and toting anything that would carry the drinks, headed along the curved sidewalk towards the hill. Before dusk college boys played Frisbee and the music of the late ’70’s blasted through the amps. When the sun settled, so did the people. Groups of friends and families shared blanket seating in the grass. When the darkness came and the movie started, an herbal aroma wafted past our noses. Whoa. We saw Rollerball there.

Flagstaff Hill evokes memories that are part of the essence of who I’ve become. The memories of going there with people who knew more than I did and were smart and funny with their words, and seeing young people who were older than me and watching them laugh, play, and love, wearing their clothes and hair in a way that was so ‘now’, then. The memories of going there and feeling exciting but safe, romantic, fun. It was cool, because of the crowd it attracted, and still so familiar it felt like my own backyard.

It is the backyard of two universities. During any semester when the weather is good, the hill is crowded with dorm-dwelling co-eds. They use the hill for outdoor studying, picnic lunches, or sunbathing on their days off. I’d read a text or two on the hill when I was a student.

In the summer when I was ten years old, I rolled down the great hill, over it’s green grass flocked with white clover, my arms stretched over my head, making like a log. I was stung twice in the armpit by honeybees.

Any winter that graced us with heavy snowfall warranted a trip to the hill with our sleds. This winter was one of those, and I shared my love of Flagstaff with Yim and his boys. Another beautiful day on the hill.